Random DrabbleLike Stories
by Valerie3
Summary: Basically whatever scenes involving Holly, Artemis and the rest of the "gang" I feel inspired to write.
1. Home

It was impossible for her to stop grinning as she flew over the few miles of vegetation between the shuttle port and her destination.

She climbed in the window in one fluid motion, made so from years of visits. A wave of compassion swept over her as she caught a glimpse of the peacefully sleeping figure.

Quietly padding over to the bed she climbed in, careful not to disturb him.

"Good morning, Holly."

She stiffened for an instant then relaxed, snuggling in to the warm body.

"I thought you were asleep," she murmured.

"You thought wrong," he murmured back, his words a rumble in his chest. Eyes still closed his arms encircled her, pulling her even closer.

She nestled her face into his collarbone, feeling nothing but love for him. Just minutes late he was asleep and she rose and fell rhythmically to his breathing. "Artemis," she sighed, content.


	2. A Crate Incident

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Holly asked dubiously.

"Of course it's going to work," Foaly said, offended that Holly would even doubt his brilliant plan. Seeing that she wasn't reassured he added, "Fowl even checked it over. He said it would work."

"Actually," called the Mud boy, "I said it would more likely work than not work. There's still room for error." Seeing Holly's expression he hastily added, "Very little room. There's a 98% chance it'll work."

Glancing at the two she gave a small sigh, still nervous but not as much as she was before. She wasn't sure why, but that morning she didn't seem to have her normal bravado.

Thinking back to the previous day, she smiled wryly to herself. She had been right to doubt Foaly's "brilliant plan". Everything that could go wrong did. Now she and Artemis were stuck in a crate together on the USS Maria; stowaways. Their contact had turned traitor, leaving them to scramble to get themselves across the Atlantic. This was the best plan the Mud boy had come up with, which wasn't saying much.

She glanced sideways at the young man in question who sat legs curled in to his chest, head on knees. He stared at the side of the box, thinking; not actually seeing anything.

She stretched out as far as she could as she tried to lie down, but even with the height of one meter she wasn't able to lie flat. She lay on her side curled up, closed her eyes and tried to relax. Artemis' presence didn't help, seeing as she was all tensed up because of his proximity to her.

Out of the blue he gave a quiet chuckle. "What are you laughing at?" Holly whispered, believing for an instant he had gone mad.

"Nothing," he whispered back and gave a vampire-like smirk.

Feeling as if she were missing some crucial detail she sighed and rolled over to her other side, facing away from the genius.

When she awoke she was aware of two things- there was a very distinct smell of fish coming from nearby the crate, and there felt to be a heavy weight on top of her body.

Blinking groggily Holly craned her head around to look at the weight. Artemis' arm was draped over her torso haphazardly as if he had gone to sleep drunk.

Fully awake now, she had to stifle a laugh directed at her companion. Whereas the fairy had simply thought the box to be a bit small, the boy found it absolutely cramped and extremely uncomfortable. He was curled along the opposite wall of the box and around her sleeping figure. At the moment his face was twisted in a pained expression as if even in the dream world he knew how awkward he felt about the situation.

She resisted the urge to wake him and tease him mercilessly about his discomfort. Although she felt relieved that the genius felt just as uncomfortable as she did at the moment, it was hard to resist any opportunity she got to torment the Mud boy, seeing as it didn't happen too often.

She decided, instead, to go back to sleep and not risk his ire. The wrath of a Fowl was not a good thing to provoke, even if one considered themselves a friend. Also, although on the surface she had no inkling about it, she secretly deep down couldn't help but love the feel of Artemis right next to her and his arm draped around her as she slept peacefully.


	3. New Words

She breathed in slowly; peacefully.

He stared at her with a compassionate look in his eyes, leaned over and kissed her gently on the forehead, whispering the words, "I love you." Never before had he said those words, but they felt natural on his lips when directed towards her. He quietly walked away towards the door. As he stepped into the doorframe he heard a softly murmured, "I love you, too".

He stiffened with a sharp intake of breath. "You're awake," he exclaimed and turned around, clearly surprised. Every indication had led him to believe that she was asleep. Yet here she was wide awake, looking at him with a gently amused but caring expression on her face.

He blushed and smiled sheepishly back at her, at the one with whom he was in love.

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It seems like all of my writings so far are centered on the idea of sleep, or a bed. I really ought to change that. I promise my next drabble will be totally different. As for the one after that… I can't make any promises.


	4. Time

Foaly's eyes scanned the computer screen in front of him as they did hour after hour, day after day, year after year. He had to admit that at times his job was a bit monotonous. However, at others…. Well, let's just say it got a bit "hectic". He couldn't help but snort at that thought, for "hectic" truly underestimated the many life-or-death situations he had been involved in, especially those including a particular Holly Short.

He gave a small smile. _Holly. _She was one of his best friends and he'd do anything to protect her. (Not that she ever needed protecting. In more than one occasion the female officer had proved that she was more than capable of taking care of herself.) Even though at times it had meant ignoring the rules and getting into heaps of trouble. Oh, and having to put up with that Mud Boy.

He sighed. _Artemis._ At the moment the one-of-a-kind genius happened to be at Dr. Argon's clinic, still recovering from the Atlantis Complex. It was almost disheartening to see the boy go from his intellectual best to being paranoid and irked by the smallest things. _Almost. _Fowl did deserve it to some extent, after all. He was a criminal, even if he was being slowly reformed by his "fairy friends". Foaly felt it was a bit ironic that he ended up counting the one-time kidnapper among his comrades. Heck, he found it even more sardonic that he counted Mulch among his friends.

_Mulch._ That slippery (and smelly) little dwarf never failed to get into some kind of trouble, nor was ever unable to get his friends out of it. His unique and invaluable skills had saved the others countless times. If only he could resist from breaking the law, he wouldn't have the LEP on his tail as often.

He gave an eye roll. _Trouble._ The new commander was turning out to be more like the late Julius Root than Foaly had expected. Thankfully, that excluded the whole fungus cigar habit that had distinguished the late elf. Along with being in a petulant mood all the time, Trouble also seemed to have an almost physical weight on his shoulders from his arduous position of command.

The centaur couldn't help but grin as he thought of his friends. Together they were a very diverse and unlikely group of people, but that never stopped them as time and time again they saved Haven and the rest of the world.

"Foaly," growled a distinct voice, jerking him back to the present.

"Yes, commander?" he answered, grinning even wider as he turned around. _Time to get back to work_.


	5. Truth

"Holly," he began nervously as a single bead of sweat formed above his upper lip.

"Yes?" she wheedled almost tauntingly, mocking his visible tension.

He swallowed and haltingly said, "I have something to tell you."

"Yes?" she repeated, clearly enjoying the moment.

He met her eyes with a burst of sudden bravery, and seemed to cower under her unwavering gaze. He faltered for a second but then plucked up enough courage to say, "It was I who stole the cookies from the cookie jar."

After a few seconds of silence passed, Holly leapt from her seat, punching her fist in the air as she triumphantly said, "Yes! I knew it was you! Hah! In your face mud-boy! Captain Short is never wrong!"

He sighed and the tension rolled off his body. He grimaced. "Unfortunately, unforeseen complications prevented me from wiping all traces of myself from the container."

"Indeed?" she asked cheekily, as she sat back down, breathing fast. "Could those "unforeseen complications" have anything to do with the fact that a certain female genius is visiting you at the moment? Or that you happen to blush whenever her name is mentioned?" she said pointedly, for at the moment his face was indeed turning a lovely hue of red.

With discomfort plainly displayed he toted back, almost childishly, "That is none of your business."

"Sure it is, Arty, sure it is," she said, impishly stretching out the words, a smirk on her face.


	6. Realizations

He stared. It was impossible for him not to, for what he was looking at wasn't a normal sight to see.

"What? What are you looking at?" Holly asked.

He blushed. "Nothing," he said, feeling like a child caught with one hand in the cookie jar. (Not that he'd ever done that when he was younger, ahem.)

She stared suspiciously at Artemis Fowl II, put off guard by his simple and child-like answer. Across the table he returned her gaze but with some sense of discomfiture. He looked away and her eyes narrowed.

"Artemis…" she began threateningly.

Although he didn't physically move he seemed to shrink away from her. After what felt like an eternity he took a deep breath and said in a rush, "Youhaveanoodleonyourchin."

Confused, she tilted her head to the side.

With another deep breath he began again, visibly straining to separate each word. "You have a noodle on your chin."

With a strange look she pulled the soup noodle off, wondering at his strange reaction.

On the other side of the table Artemis sighed, thankful it was over. The noodle had fallen minutes before when Holly had been finishing her meal. Since then he had been sneaking glances at her face, having felt strangely about the food's presence. Finally, he had given into his temptation to stare like an idiot.

While he stared he had realized something. Despite the fact that she was a cop and he was a criminal, and that she was always on the lookout for ways to one-up the famous genius, she happened to be his best friend. And what's more, at that moment despite how silly she looked he was able to see past it and see that she was beautiful and truly cared for him. He realized that he, Artemis Fowl loved her, Holly Short.

Feeling oddly he swallowed, filing his realizations away to be contemplated later. As for now he would simply enjoy spending time with his best friend, not worried about complicated emotions or the dynamics of their relationship. He smiled.

Holly grinned back hesitantly, unsure of what had just transpired but disregarding it to instead focus on enjoying the present.


	7. One Small Step

She'd had these urges before but never had she given in to them. There was simply no way she could take that step… No. Certainly not, especially after what had happened in the past. Or was it because of what happened she felt like this? Never mind. Either way, she couldn't do that to him after what he'd been through. She couldn't do that to herself.

However, if times and situations had been different… But they weren't. She clenched her hands in fists as her frustration boiled inside her from that blunt truth. It was as simple as they could never be. They could never take that step. Never be more than what they now were. Friends. Best friends at that.

After all, what would people say? There'd be no way they'd be pleased about it. _But, _a small part of her voiced, _aren't there already rumors that it's already happened? Don't your friends give you smug looks about it, saying it'll happen no matter what despite all your efforts to deny it?_

She couldn't help it. She covered her face with her hands and let out a frustrated yell. She felt a hand rest on her shoulder. _Oh no._

"Holly, are you okay?" asked the boy genius. _Oh, d'arvit. _She had completely forgotten about his presence amidst all her thoughts_. _She kept her face buried in her hands and wished he would grace someone else with his company. "Holly?" he asked again. It didn't sound like the mud boy planned on leaving anytime soon. After some while she lifted her face up and stared at him.

Looking into his eyes she saw his concern for her. Her frustration melted away. "I'm fine," she replied softly, so unlike her.

He continued to search her face. "Are you sure?"

At that sentence she closed her eyes, just feeling his presence beside her. "Yes." She opened her eyes. His face was laid bare and his expression was unconcealed. Concern seemed to be his main emotion but she could also detect hints of compassion. In that moment he seemed very young and more human than she had ever seen him.

Without any conscience direction on her part she raised her hand and caressed the side of his face. Realizing what she had done she froze, hand still on his cheek. Artemis froze too and stopped mid-breath. His eyes slowly trailed from hers to her hand and back again.

Holly too waited with bated breath for his reaction. After what seemed like an eternity he raised his own hand and covered hers, still resting on his face. He curled his fingers around her palm and gazed back at her.

Neither of them was sure who started it first but they found themselves leaning in to each other. Tentatively their lips brushed softly against each others'. Gaining confidence their kiss deepened. Holly immediately forgot her concerns from a moment before and just focused on the present and Artemis in front of her.

His arms encircled her and pulled her body to his. All throughout this her hand had remained on his cheek but now it joined the other and wound its way around his neck. When they finally came up for breath she rested her head on his chest.

There was no way they would go back to how they were before. Not after this. Not after she had done the unthinkable and taken that oh-so-forbidden step. Well, frankly, at that moment she didn't care. She didn't care about the ramifications about what they had done or even what everyone would say. At that moment she only cared about the feeling of her head on his chest and how much she felt like she belonged there in Artemis' arms. She wanted nothing more but to live in that moment forever.


End file.
